S2 Ep67: That’s So Cincinnati: Steve Raleigh opens up about his daughter’s death, launching Madi’s House and life as TV weatherman

Long-time Cincinnati weatherman Steve Raleigh can quickly recall the exact dates of the two biggest storms he's encountered in life. 

• March 2, 2012, when a rash of tornadoes killed more than 20 people across Southwest Ohio, Northern Kentucky and Southeast Indiana.

• Jan. 17, 2019, when Raleigh's 24-year-old daughter, Madison, committed suicide after battling addiction and mental illness.

As Raleigh still track's storms weekdays for WCPO-TV, he's also taken on another job – launching a nonprofit organization to help men and women struggling with addiction and mental illness. 

It's called Madi's House, located 5081 Glenncrossing Way. And Raleigh told The Enquirer's That's So Cincinnati podcast that there's big things coming as soon as the organization is working on expanding to reach more people in need. 

Raleigh, Channel 9's chief meteorologist since 2005, opened up about his daughter's struggles and the hope Madi's House is offering to those in need. Here's part of his interview on this week's That's So Cincinnati episode: 

Almost two years ago, my wife and I lost our daughter. She fought the battle of addiction and some mental health issues. It had been going on for quite a number of years, 10 to 12 years. Took her own life. At that point, my wife came out with a statement at the memorial service: "We are going to war against these two factions." As a family, we decided to set up something that would help. 

What I like to call a moment of clarity from my daughter was something that she said to us: "I just wish I had somewhere to hang out." There were times when she was ready to go forward, and she had nowhere to go. Quite frankly, she couldn't fall back to the people she had been with. She really couldn't find any new friends. There was a certain stigma associated with the problem she was having. And she was basically hanging out with my wife and I. That's no fun for a 24-year-old. 

Madi's House is really a recovery and mental health community center. There are some games, like video games. There's some art family. There's music. There's fitness. We also have AA and NA meetings. 

(Madi's House has been open) Friday, Saturday and Sunday since Thanksgiving. We feel very good about this going forward. We're hopefully going to be the model for other communities that can take this and move it into their city. We really are a place to create community, and that's what's not (been) happening. 

I'm not at liberty to say where we're going next, but I do believe shortly we're going to have an announcement to expand Madi's House in a really significant way. We'd like to make it more accessible for everybody. 

To learn more about Madi's House, go to madishousecincy.org.